I'm not losing my mind.

This isn’t just my head playing tricks on me again.

This is very real. It's her standing in front of me. It’s Daisy.

And she's gaping at me like she's seeing a ghost.

"You're...you're..." Her fingers cover her parted lips, smearing her sultry red lipstick. "Oh my god. Tony? Oh my god." The words echo a mix of shock and relief.

Fire shoots up and down my system, the discomfort normally chewing at my left side amplified by the mind-fuck of seeing her again. "Daisy...I can’t fucking believe it’s you."

She launches forward, throwing herself into my arms. “You didn’t die!” She spits out a sound of relief as her tiny body squeezes to mine. My hands clench on her shoulders, her back, her hips on a quest to confirm that she’s the real deal.

And she is. It’s really her.

This isn’t like all the times when my mind fooled me into mistaking someone else for her.

Her curves are more luscious and defined than they were two years ago but god knows she feels just as good—if not, better—in my hands.

I laugh under my breath as I hug her. “No, I didn’t die. I’m really here. And you…Fuck, Daisy.” I squeeze her tighter.

I didn’t want to come here tonight. But Charlie and Leo showed up at my motel room and insisted they weren’t leaving unless I came out to have a drink with them at this fancy lounge just outside of Copper Heights.

While I was in the bathroom taking a piss, I overheard them saying something about some girl they wanted me to meet. It felt like a set-up. I told them I wasn’t interested. But eventually, they convinced me it would just be a group of friends hanging out.

Anyway, here I am. And Daisy is standing in front of me.

"I'm so sorry. I don't usually throw myself at people like that." She stares at me in the dim light of the corridor, her dark eyes full of wonder.

She looks amazing. Sexy and sweet. The lace of her bra teases me from beneath her sheer black blouse. My cock throbs the way it did when I unhooked her bra and cupped her breasts that night in Vegas. Tonight, her curvaceous thighs are plastered against some tight, shiny-ass pants. I can’t help but think back on the way her legs felt around my back when I pushed up the hem of her dress and sank into the heat of her pussy two years ago. When her heart-shaped lips stretch into a smile, my mind drifts back to the way her mouth felt dancing with mine beneath the neon lights of the Las Vegas Strip.

My cock is lumber in my jeans. “No worries.” I smile as I reach out and pluck a piece of green muck from her glorious raven hair.

Distractedly, she brushes her fingers through her tresses, getting rid of the rest of the fluff herself. She stutters, "What...what are you doing here?"

I reach for her hand and thread our fingers together. "I just got into town. Visiting some friends. Military buddies."

When I say that, everything shifts in the air.

Daisy freezes. Her skin blanches. Her eyes go wide. She wheezes softly for air. "Oh my god..." She pulls her fingers from mine and grips her stomach lightly.

I step closer, right into her comfort zone. "Are you okay?"

“I-it was nice seeing you.” Her smile hardens up like instant concrete. "I-I have to go.” She tries to slip under my arm and get away.

What the fuck?

I block her path. “Daisy—what’s going on with you?”

Her body is practically vibrating with nervous energy. “I’m sorry. I have to go. I have to get home.”

Hell no. That's not how this works. This woman has haunted my dreams for two years. And now she's standing in front of me—something I thought would never happen. She doesn't get to just walk away. 

My hands clamp down on her hips and I hold her in place. "Come back to my hotel with me." This moment is too important. This conversation is too important. We don’t need to have it in a piss-scented hallway with the blare of pop music and glasses clinking and strangers buzzing all around us. We need privacy.

There’s just enough light in the narrow hallway for me to see the dark shadow that covers her features at my invitation. She looks away. “That’s a line I’ve heard from you before.”

And all of a sudden, it occurs to me that I have no idea how her world has changed since that night in Vegas. She could be living a completely different life now. Or not. Something like dread builds in my gut.

"Fuck—you went back to him…" The words taste like bile on my tongue. “Please tell me you didn’t go back to that asshole.”

 Her gaze snaps up and her expression twists with repulsion. "Who? Josh? No! No, I haven't seen or heard from Josh since he stood me up.”

Those words shouldn’t make me feel as much relief as they do. But that relief is quickly followed by rage. What a coward! He didn't even have the balls or the decency to come back and give her an explanation for why he left her.

Knowing that he treated her like crap just creates more urgency inside of me. I want to take care of her. I want to hold her and find a way to make everything better. I want it so bad it makes me forget I’m broken myself. "So what's the problem? Come to my hotel." I say it a little too loudly.

A group of giggly 20-somethings slink by and Daisy grows self-conscious. Color rushes to her cheeks and her long, long eyelashes flutter.

A world of frustration sits on her shoulders. "I know I gave you a certain impression the night we met. I didn’t put up much of a challenge before I left the bar with you. But I'm not that kind of girl. I don't normally just fall into bed with men I don't know."

"But you know me."

"Uh, no I don't."

"Daisy, I told you things about me that night. Things nobody else knows."

“You don't know me," she insists, folding her arms over her chest. "Case in point, my name isn't Daisy."

A playful feeling creeps up my chest. “So, what is it?" I smirk, stepping closer and planting a hand on the wall above her head to lean over her.

She pauses, uncertainty on her face as she blinks up at me.

I wait.

"It's Sophia," she says hesitantly and shifts her weight from one leg to the next. Did her pants just squeak at me?

When she says that a little smile comes to my mouth. Sophia, the daycare lady...

She sucks in a long breath that causes her shoulders to lift up to her ears. "And you're Archie."

Wow! Word travels at the speed of light in small towns like this, huh? "I'm Archie," I confirm.

"Fuck..." she mumbles under her breath. Her eyes drop and she shakes her head.

I dip my face to hers. "Hey, hey, hey...What's that all about?"

"I need to go," she says simply.

My grip stays on her slim waist as urgency mounts in my veins. "You say you don’t know me. Well, get to know me. Let's get out of here. Go grab some dinner. Or go for a walk. Or something."

"I can't just leave here with you. Imagine what people would say.”

Hmm…Seems she still has that problem of giving a fuck what other people think of her. We’re gonna have to fix that.

A nosy blonde hustles by, eyes on us as she passes. Sophia’s self-consciousness increases. "Look, I already have a reputation around here for being a train wreck. I'm not going to give the local gossip mill more fodder by strutting out of here with the new-in-town guy, okay?" Before I can take another shot at making my case, she ducks around me and hurries away.

A part of me tells me to follow her, to make her listen to me. Because she's not just some chick I banged that one time in a hotel room in Sin City. That woman has no idea the role she’s played in my life. She has no idea that her effect on me stretched far beyond that night in Vegas.

I should make her listen to me. 

Instead, I hold back. I let her leave. Because Copper Heights is a small town. No more than 5000 residents. Tracking her down shouldn't be that hard to do. She is the daycare lady, after all.

She probably just needs some time to process it all. As far as she's concerned, we were never supposed to see each other again. Yet, here I am, standing on her turf.

Still, my blood runs cold when I see who's sitting at the table she approaches. Leo’s got his arm around his wife’s shoulder as he nuzzles her cheek. Meanwhile, Charlie’s wife is trying to wiggle her way into his lap.

No fucking way!

My mind is scrambling to process it. What kind of fucking coincidence is this?

I watch as Sophia speaks to her friends. She grimaces and rubs her hand in discreet circles on her belly—fake stomach ache, a classic—before opening her purse and trying to slip some money onto the table. Charlie stops her and shoos the money away. Then, Nova and Reese hug her in turn before she makes a mad dash for the exit.

Right before she steps out the door, she throws one last look in my direction. My neck tingles. My cock jerks.

This little neck of the woods just got a whole lot more interesting.